


Boto Cor-de-Rosa

by snottygrrl



Series: bday lucky 13 meme fills [5]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Shifter, arthur knows what's best, boto cor-de-rosa, eames just wants to fix it, secretly a creature, two dweebs in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-29 06:17:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18219326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snottygrrl/pseuds/snottygrrl
Summary: eames is about to find out why arthur's been keeping him at a distance. it's not any of the reasons he'd come up.





	Boto Cor-de-Rosa

**Author's Note:**

  * For [leemarchais](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=leemarchais), [wench_fics (WeasleyWench)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeasleyWench/gifts).



> better late than never, eh? six years after you asked me to surprise you with al/scorp, h/d or arthur/eames, i finally wrote a little something with the third paring (because i already had three requests for h/d and two for al/scorp). hope you like it.

It’s been over a week since that disaster of a job, but Eames has finally managed to locate where the mark’s security team has taken Arthur. Thank bloody fuck.

Unfortunately, It’s another two days before he manages to break him out. Eames has never seen Arthur in this bad of shape before and frankly he’s more than a little worried.

“No, Eames. No hospitals,” Arthur insists again.

Arthur’s not stupid, yet still... “What if we—“ Eames tries before Arthur cuts him off.

“No. I just need a bath and a rest.”

“A bath,” Eames repeats skeptically, to which Arthur nods wearily.

Trusting Arthur knows what’s best, Eames makes his way back to the temporary safe house. He’s careful to weave to and fro across the city, causing their trail to be hopelessly muddled, but his caution means extra time. 

When at long last he’s helping Arthur through the door, he’s rethinking the no hospital plan. Arthur is deathly pale, leaning heavily on Eames, and stumbling over his own feet. 

The safe house is a wee thing, its main room crowded with a couch, TV, bookshelves, and a bed. Off a small hallway is a kitchenette and a bathroom. Eames tries to steer them towards the bed, but Arthur flails, seemingly in an attempt to turn them and wheezes out, “Bath."

Frustrated, Eames scoops Arthur into his arms, intending to deposit him on the bed. “I’m not letting you take a bath like this, you’ll drown!”

Arthur lets out a sharp croak of laughter, before meeting Eames’ gaze, whispering only, “Please.”

There's desperation in Arthur’s eyes. A look Eames has seen on the faces of those who know they're a blink away from death. With a growl, Eames pivots towards the hallway. 

Striding into the tiny bathroom, he kneels, setting Arthur down before adjusting the taps. When Eames looks back over at Arthur, he seems to be rather ineffectually trying to undress. 

Eames has had many a fantasy about stripping Arthur of his clothes, some of them have even taken place near a bath, but he’d never expected any of them to come to fruition, and certainly not like this. With a sigh, Eames moves Arthur’s fumbling hands away. “Here, let me, darling.”

Despite having worked with Arthur for years in many unusual circumstances and occasionally tight quarters, Eames has never seen Arthur shirtless or in shorts, let alone wearing anything less. He does his best not to stare at all the smooth skin being revealed or find the sight of Arthur’s knees strangely endearing as he helps him into the tub. The bruises and cuts are livid against Arthur’s pale complexion and Eames has to work hard to keep his manner calm and unaffected.

This is not helped by the fact that Arthur seems to gain a second wind once he gets settled and uses it in a misguided attempt to persuade Eames to leave.

“I don’t need a babysitter, Eames,” he contends. “Really, I’d much prefer to bathe alone.”

“You’re balmy if you think I’m going to leave you in here by yourself after you nearly passed out a minute ago. I didn’t go to all this effort just have you die in the bath.” Eames takes a calming breath, yelling will get him nowhere. As pleased as he is Arthur’s feeling strong enough to argue with him, he’s just as concerned by how flushed Arthur’s skin is becoming, taking on an almost rosy hue.

"Arthur," Eames begins in an alarmed tone at the same time Arthur says, "Eames—" and then Arthur's words turn into a sort of a resigned trill.

Eames only stares for a moment before he helps the flailing dolphin right itself so its blowhole is out of the water. It's a rather tight fit, with the dolphin's snout—Arthur's snout Eames supposes, and isn't that a phrase he'd never saw himself thinking—resting awkwardly on the edge of the tub.

"So," Eames says dryly, "I'm starting to see why the insistence on a bath." He hadn't thought a dolphin could roll its eyes. Not the first time he's been surprised today.

Arthur chitters and whistles at him in a decidedly testy manner, but the way he’s pushing into Eames touch belies any lasting annoyance.

It’s only then that Eames realizes he'd never let go of Arthur after he'd shifted. He carefully strokes the skin along Arthur’s side and is rewarded by a trill that sounds pleased. Lifting his other hand to pet along Arthur's snout, Eames asks, “Does this mean, now that I know, you’ll finally let me touch you in human form as well?”

There's a movement and a splash and Eames finds himself with an armful of a very wet, very naked Arthur in human form. 

"Oh, yes," Arthur says before kissing him.

**Author's Note:**

> i wanted to do something different, and was thinking about making arthur an incubus, when i came across the myths about the amazon river dolphins (boto cor-de-rosa) being able to shift into 'humans' and lure people back to the water. i borrowed the idea of a river dolpin shifter from the legend, and but melded it to the standard shifter concept where he's a human that can shift into an animal, not the other way around (and has no murderous tendencies) .


End file.
